News

2009-11-30 15:39:16.127

Bloomsdale Man Lays Claim to $200,000 Powerball Prize

For James Wirth of Bloomsdale, dropping in at the Dew Drop Inn was well worth his time. The Powerball ticket he purchased there for the Nov. 14 drawing matched all five white-ball numbers to earn the construction worker a $200,000 prize.

According to Wirth, 52, he plays Powerball every Wednesday and Saturday and didn’t know quite what to think when he walked into the Dew Drop Inn, 710 Highway 61 in Bloomsdale, following the Nov. 14 drawing.

“I walked in there, and they knew they’d had a winner,” he said. “And they knew that I played.”

Not counting on the good fortune belonging to him, Wirth decided there was no hurry in finding out the fate of the ticket he had for that particular night’s drawing.

“I said, ‘Ah, we’ll check it later,’” he shared.

After a while, curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to go ahead and have his ticket checked.

“Voila,” he said. “There it was.”

In a small community like Bloomsdale, Poole said everyone at the Dew Drop Inn was happy for him; however, there was one more person he’d have to tell in person in order for it to be believed.

“My wife, I went home to tell her,” he said. “I knew not to call her on the phone. She’d hang up,” he laughed, citing her anticipated skepticism.

Powerball is a multi-state game that features jackpots starting at $20 million. Wirth’s ticket was the 150th second-level winning Powerball ticket sold in Missouri. The estimated jackpot for the next Powerball drawing on Dec. 2 is $30 million.

Coincidentally, a Missouri Lotto ticket worth $1 million was also sold at the Dew Drop Inn back in July of 2004. That winning ticket was sold to Paul Koller of Ste. Genevieve.